Streaming can promote your sport without cost, however for story-heavy genres like RPGs, you run the danger of turning into happy with simply watching different individuals play the sport. Naoki Hamaguchi, director of the Ultimate Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, spoke about this just lately, saying that gameplay streams are a giant problem for RPG makers. As a result of RPG makers want to make sure that their video games are attention-grabbing sufficient that gamers will truly need to decide up the sport and play it themselves.
Hamaguchi instructed a Japanese information website that he’s presently arduous at work on Ultimate Fantasy 7: Revelation, the ultimate chapter of the 1997 RPG remake trilogy, scheduled for spring 2027. 4Gamer Concerning the challenges sport streaming poses for Ultimate Fantasy and sport creators.
Hamaguchi warned, “One of many issues that RPGs like Ultimate Fantasy must watch out about at present is that folks may be happy with simply watching the stream with out truly taking part in the sport.”
Hamaguchi identified that he’s not utterly towards streaming, highlighting the issue that persons are watching video games however not feeling motivated sufficient to play. “This can be a disaster for the sport itself, and it is not one thing that sport builders needs to be utterly blissful about,” Hamaguchi stated.
So what’s Ultimate Fantasy 7 Revelation’s answer to this drawback?In line with Hamaguchi, it is essential for video games to provide gamers sufficient alternative in order that no two players have precisely the identical expertise. βIf individuals watch a sport stream and suppose, “What would I do in that scenario?” or “How do I experiment?” then I hope that it evokes them to attempt it themselves. β
Clearly, Revelation gives much more participant alternative than Rebirth and gives a way that every participant’s expertise is totally different. Hamaguchi feels that this characteristic is “precisely what video games in at present’s streaming period want.” βThe world is altering and leisure has to evolve with the occasions.β
Actually, “alternative” was one of many conceptual key phrases within the improvement of Ultimate Fantasy 7: Revelation. Nonetheless, Hamaguchi didn’t elaborate on whether or not the participant’s decisions in Revelation will have an effect on small plot episodes (such because the Gold Saucer date scene in OG FF7/Rebirth) or whether or not they may have a bigger affect on the general story.
However we do know that when it comes to gameplay, there appears to be a variety of participant company and selection. Ultimate Fantasy 7 Revelation will even characteristic a costume-based job system (FITS), which is modeled after Ultimate Fantasy X-2. Nonetheless, Hamaguchi assured followers that character jobs and costume appearances are separated, and gamers will be capable of progress by the sport with everybody’s authentic costumes whereas altering character jobs if they need. Gamers can select a job for every character from the beginning, giving them much more choices than in the event that they needed to unlock a particular job. Hamaguchi stated that accessing the Highwind airship after 5 hours will give gamers a variety of freedom as to what a part of the world map they need to discover subsequent.
When Rebirth obtained rave opinions in 2024, one of many essential criticisms the sport confronted was that it was slowed down with too many minigames. Hamaguchi famous that the crew addressed this criticism of Revelation. Digging deeper into Rebirth’s minigames was optionally available, however like the unique FF7, there have been moments the place you wanted to play a minigame to advance the plot (just like the Queen’s Blood Event) or to entry sure highly effective tools or fight mechanics.
With Ultimate Fantasy 7: Revelation, Hamaguchi and crew recalibrated their focus in order that combat-focused content material now yields combat-related rewards (which means grinders who love the fight system can pursue that path), and mini-games yield beauty rewards similar to character costumes. “We balanced the sport in order that gamers who aren’t desirous about mini-games do not must play them,” Hamaguchi stated. Mini-games even have a skip characteristic, permitting gamers to skip to the reward if they do not like a specific mini-game. Nonetheless, he reassured followers that the unique 1997 slap battle between Tifa and Scarlett will even seem in Apocalypse.
Hamaguchi additionally reiterated that “Ultimate Fantasy 7: Revelation” will embody all of the storylines and thriller components that the earlier FF7 Remake collection dropped at bear. “Fairly than additional increasing the FF7 IP, our precedence as builders is to convey this remake collection to a correct conclusion,” Hamaguchi stated, emphasizing that the crew is deeply dedicated to rewarding followers’ loyalty by giving the FF7 trilogy a stable ending.
“Ultimate Fantasy 7 Revelation” has been introduced. Summer season Recreation Fest 2026 It is going to launch concurrently in Spring 2027 on PC, Nintendo Swap 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Sequence X and S through Steam and Epic Video games Retailer. Since then, many new particulars concerning the closing chapter have been revealed. The English model of Sephiroth will probably be performed by a brand new actor..
Verity Townsend is a contract author based mostly in Japan and beforehand served as an editor, contributor, and translator for the gaming information website Automaton West. She additionally writes about Japanese tradition and movie for varied publications.